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Candidates call for multilingual outreach, online access and more open notice for city decisions
Summary
Multiple candidates at the Chelsea forum said the city should expand multilingual outreach, put more meetings and notices online, and use multiple channels—email, text and social media—to reach working families and non-English speakers.
Several city council and at‑large candidates at a Chelsea candidate forum urged the city to expand multilingual outreach and make meetings and notices more accessible to residents who work nonstandard hours or do not speak English as a first language.
Why it matters: Candidates and residents said traditional notice methods miss working families and non‑English speakers, contributing to the perception that decisions happen without meaningful community input.
Suggestions included broadcasting meetings online, requiring early multilingual public notice for zoning and development proposals, and using text, email and community groups to get information to residents. Nicholas Gregoretti said he would require “early multilingual public notice, email, text, social media for all zoning and development so that you make sure that as the businesses continue to grow, they're done so sustainably with an informed community.”
Organizers and candidates also noted translation assistance at the forum and encouraged the city to expand interpretation services at hearings and for city communications. Candidates acknowledged that the city has organizations that currently help with outreach but said the city should coordinate more proactively with community groups and neighborhood leaders to reach residents where they are.
No formal language-access ordinance was proposed at the forum; candidates urged residents to press for multilingual notices and to attend hearings.
